Texas A&M coach Joni Taylor leads Team USA for Gold at the FIBA World Cup 2023

Joni Taylor's pedigree is undeniable, as she led Team USAs women to gold in Madrid, Spain. This was her fourth gold medal as a Team USA coach and the Texas A&M head coach is just getting started.

In a closely contested final in Madrid, Taylor's charges beat Spain 69-66 to win gold. It was the only close game as Team USA beat their opponents by an average of 42.6 points, leading to a dominant 7-0 clean sweep.

She was the assistant coach in 2022 when Team USA women's national team won gold at the FIBA Women's World Cup in Sydney. When the U19 team won gold at the FIBA World Cup, Joni Taylor was also an assistant coach.

Last year, Taylor led Team USA's U18s to the FIBA Americas gold medal for her first as a head coach. She simply has a track record of undeniable success.

Joni Taylor's legacy

Joni Taylor had a glamorous college basketball career where she won back-to-back national championships in 1998 and 1999 for the Alabama Crimson Tide before transitioning into coaching.

She won the Spalding Maggie Dixon Rookie Coach of the Year award during her first season as head coach of Georgia. Taylor led the program to a 21-10 record and snagged an invitation to the NCAA tournament.

Taylor won SEC (Southeastern Conference) Coach of the Year in 2021 when she was the Georgia Bulldogs' head coach. This was after leading them to the SEC tournament finals and the NCAA tournament.

Interestingly, Taylor allegedly accepted the vacant head coach job at Texas A&M without even visiting the institution. She has become a firm fan favorite during her time as Aggies coach.

Last season, her team was the first No. 13 seed in SEC history to proceed to the third round of the women's tournament after beating No. 5-seed Mississippi State 79-72.

Joni Taylor is only the fourth black head coach in Texas A&M's history. However, she doesn't front it, believing her stature as a head coach must be tied to her accomplishments; not her skin color.

"Do I wake up every day thinking I'm the only African-American or minority head coach at Texas A&M? No, I don't."

She recently had basketball courts in her hometown, Meridian, Mississippi named after her. The Joni Crenshaw-Taylor basketball courts were unveiled at Velma Young Park in honor of the Texas A&M head coach.

Taylor is already making waves, having convinced Janiah Barker, the No. 3 and Sydney Bowles the No. 37 recruits nationally to join the Aggies. Barker is the highest-ranked recruit to ever join the Aggies.

It seems like everyone wants to play under the accomplished Joni Taylor.